Arrernte

Aboriginal Australian people

Aboriginal language occurring in the Northern Territory, Australia

town in the Northern Territory, Australia

thumb | right | alt=churinga | churinga A tjurunga, also spelt churinga and tjuringa, is an object considered to be of religious significance by Central Australian Aboriginal people of the Arrernte (Aranda, Arunta) groups. The word derives from the Arrernte word Tywerenge which means sacred or precious. Tjurunga often had a wide and indeterminate native significance. They may be used variously in sacred ceremonies, as bullroarers, in sacred ground paintings, in ceremonial poles, in ceremonial headgear, in sacred chants and in sacred earth mounds.

Aputula, alternatively spelt Apatula (formerly Finke until the 1980s), is a remote Indigenous Australian community in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is south of Alice Springs and east of Kulgera roadhouse on the Stuart Highway, near the border with South Australia. The Finke River (named after German explorer and pastoralist William Finke), runs within a few kilometres of the community. The river, which is part of the Lake Eyre basin, is dry for most of the year, but is subject to occasional floods.